Electric switch.



E. 0. BENNETT.

ELECTRIC SWITCH. APPLICATION FILED JULY 13, I917.

1,294,862. Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

ATTORNEY INVENTOR ERNEST O. BENNETT, 0F BLTIEFIELD, WEST VIRGINIA.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

Application filed July 13, 1917. Serial No. 180,479.

'To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ERNEST, O. BENNETT,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Bluefield', in the county ofMercer and State of WVest Virginia, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Electric Switches, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to general applications of electricity, and moreespecially to switches; and the object of the same is to produce animproved spring-actuated contact or pair of contacts, intended primarilyto receive the blade of a knife switch. De-

tails will be found in the following specification, reference being madeto the draw- 1 ings herewith where1n:-

Figure 1 is a perspective viewof a twoarm knife blade switch in openposition, with its lips constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of one pair of lips.

In my experience I have cleared motor and light trouble caused by switchlips and the lips of fuses becoming loose and producing open circuits,and it is the purpose of the present invention as far as possible toavoid this contingency by constructing a switch in which it may notoccur. I have illustrated the invention as applied to a two-arm knifeblade switch in which B is the base, A are the arms pivoted thereto atP, I is the insulated connecting block, and H is the handle. No noveltyis claimed for the'sedetails, nor do I wish to be limited strictly tothis use of the invention.

As perhaps best seen in Fig. 2, each armor blade is intended to closebetween a pair of contacts 1 rising in substantial parallelism from ablock 2 mounted at the center of a- U-shaped yoke 3 of brass or thelike, which in turn is mounted on the base and connected with the wirenot shown. The up er ends of the contacts are preferably de ectedslightly outward into tips or lips 4 and as illustrated, but theirbodies are approximatel parallel. Connected with each body eading thenceoutward is a rod 5 which extends loosely through a hole or opening 6 inone arm of the'yoke 3, and

uponthis rod is coiled an expansive spring 7 whose tendency of course isto press the contact inward gently. In other words, the two springs 7bear the contacts toward each other because the inner ends of the springpress on the outer faces of the contacts and the outer ends of thesprings rest on the in-' ner faces of the arms of the yoke, while therods 5 serve as guides for the springs to prevent their disengagement.The rods may be attached to the contacts in any suitable way, but Iprefer that the attachment be permanent and rigid so that the parts maynot become disconnected. If now the contacts should become loose on theblock'2, or the latter loose on the base of the yoke 3, no harm will bedone because when the knife-arm or blade A descends between thesecontacts they are spread apart thereby and a reliable electricalconnection results, whether the parts are tight or not.

This device may be used in oil switches, cartridge fuses, and at manyother places Where an electrical contact or connection is dislired, andI reserve thebroadest use pos- S1 e.

What is claimed as new is A switch contact comprising a yoke havingupstanding arms and mounted on a base, a pair of strips secured to theyoke between the arms and between which the movable member of the switchis to be inserted, a rod connected to each strip and projectingtherefrom and loosely through an opening formed in the adjacentyoke-arm, and springs on said rods and bearing against the strips andERNEST O. BENNETT.-

